Welcome to HVAC-Talk.com, a non-DIY site and the ultimate Source for HVAC Information & Knowledge Sharing for the industry professional! Here you can join over 150,000 HVAC Professionals & enthusiasts from around the world discussing all things related to HVAC/R. You are currently viewing as a NON-REGISTERED guest which gives you limited access to view discussions

To gain full access to our forums you must register; for a free account. As a registered Guest you will be able to:

Participate in over 40 different forums and search/browse from nearly 3 million posts.

2 Door Display Cooler Tripping Breaker!

Hello,
Had a service call today, a 2 Door Display Cooler had been tripping the breaker. I took an amp reading and found it to be drawing 12.5 amps, the name plate rating is 11.1 amps. The unit cools and everything seems mechanically sound except it trips the breaker every few days. The customer had the breaker replaced but it still happens. Any suggestions? I hate intermittent problems!

Sounds like a ice machine we have at one of the stores, it would run fine for a while then trip the breaker, we replaced the compressor and the problem went away

Originally Posted by SurreyStevo

Hello,
Had a service call today, a 2 Door Display Cooler had been tripping the breaker. I took an amp reading and found it to be drawing 12.5 amps, the name plate rating is 11.1 amps. The unit cools and everything seems mechanically sound except it trips the breaker every few days. The customer had the breaker replaced but it still happens. Any suggestions? I hate intermittent problems!

Hello,
Had a service call today, a 2 Door Display Cooler had been tripping the breaker. I took an amp reading and found it to be drawing 12.5 amps, the name plate rating is 11.1 amps. The unit cools and everything seems mechanically sound except it trips the breaker every few days. The customer had the breaker replaced but it still happens. Any suggestions? I hate intermittent problems!

My first thought is to check the start components, particularly the relay contacts. You may not be getting full assist on a restart under load.

Second, what size breaker are we talking about? You can only load a breaker to 80% of its nameplate rating, so a 15 amp breaker can only take a continuous load of 12 amps, 16 amps for a 20 amp breaker.

Any chance there is somthing else on the same circuit? If you have somthing else pulling amps, and the compressor goes to start it could make it trip.

I also agree with the others. The compressor could have a hard time starting once in a while. Especially if it shuts off and tries to come back on again without time to equalize. If so equipped, does the plug and receptacle look ok? Plug could be coming loose in outlet and making compressor rapidly short cycle.

I think I figured it out. After burning my arm on the liquid line, yeah the liquid line, I figured that there could be non-condensables in the condenser. I pulled the charge, brazed in an access on the high side and put in some fresh R-134A. The amps dropped from 12.5 down to 10.6. I haven't heard back from the customer......yet. Thanks for the suggestions guys!

Yeah, intermittent problems suck but its most likely tripping for a reason. Had any problems since you pulled charge? Either way I would do like the others said and check your starting components...check run and start cap and make sure the start cap isn't staying in the circuit for too long due to the relay sticking closed. Check the inrush current on the compressor when it starts too. Any history on what was done last? Probably not cause no one seems to know anything when you need the information most hahaha

I think I figured it out. After burning my arm on the liquid line, yeah the liquid line, I figured that there could be non-condensables in the condenser. I pulled the charge, brazed in an access on the high side and put in some fresh R-134A. The amps dropped from 12.5 down to 10.6. I haven't heard back from the customer......yet. Thanks for the suggestions guys!

The circuit was on a 15 amp breaker, which isn't ideal for this unit. It only had a port on the suction side. Another thing I'd forgot to mention, the compressor's external overload started to trip once it ran for while and got hot. After evacuating the system, it ran a lot cooler.